


Just Like The Good Old Days

by bittersweet_lemon_boy



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Camp Campbell (Camp Camp), David & Gwen Friendship (Camp Camp), David Acting as Max's Parental Figure | Dadvid (Camp Camp), Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Romance, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, author has a half assed plan, but he still does shitty things, but the happy ending might take awhile, cameron campbell isn't a complete piece of shit, dadvid, david isn't optimistic, either way, guess you'll have to read to find out, hope you don't mind, it doesn't follow canon, jasper might still be alive, mentions of abuse, most of this fic is going to take place before the series, there's a lot of flashbacks to young davey, they're all just friends - Freeform, this is gonna be a little be angsty, this whole thing is about friendship, we'll just see where it goes, whos to say
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22759336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersweet_lemon_boy/pseuds/bittersweet_lemon_boy
Summary: David remembers the good times he had at Camp Campbell as a kid, and decides to apply to be a camp counselor there after all his life plans crashed through. It's not what he wanted, but it's closer than before.
Relationships: Dadvid - Relationship, David & Gwen (Camp Camp), David/Jasper (Camp Camp)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> so this chapter is all about david's current life, so you won't see any of the characters from the show until later chapters.  
> hope you enjoy!

“You can get through another day,” David muttered to himself, as he got ready for the day. It was getting harder and harder to find motivation to get up every morning. It wasn’t that he hated his job, he just wasn’t happy where he was. At 22, he was hoping he would be living his best life. That he would be going out and exploring the world for all its natural beauty. That he wouldn’t be answering to anyone, he would be the narrator of this story.  
Instead, his whole life had crashed down around him and he landed as an assistant preschool teacher in his hometown, Malta, Montana. The town wasn’t an awful place, it was just small and lifeless. He would be lying if he said he didn’t love the scenery; it’s just not where he wanted to be. His life was dull. Everyday was a repeat of the last.  
He had wanted to move to Washington or Utah, or even be bold and go to Arizona. He wanted to be working towards an Adventure Trip Leader in one of those areas. He had gone to school, majoring in Outdoor Recreation with a minor in Ecology. He was excited to follow his dreams, and be able to move on from his home.  
Life had other plans for him, halfway through his sophomore year of college, his mother grew ill. And with his father absent, there was no one to take care of her, and no way to pay for school. So, at 19, he had to drop out. He had to get as many part time jobs as possible to try to help his mom, and keep all the bills paid. Then at 20, his mother passed. He was alone. Sure, he wasn’t a kid anymore, but he was barely an adult. He still didn’t know who he was or who he was supposed to be. And his mom wasn’t there to help guide him anymore.  
He was forced to stay with the part-time jobs, slowly moving from one to another, until he found himself at the preschool. It was better than the other boring jobs he had, but as time went on, he was bored of it too. It was the same every day. He had to prepare the room for the day, help teach colors and shapes, occasionally interact one on one with the kids causing trouble, then the day was over. The 3 year olds were entertaining, but it was hard to hold a conversation with them. That’s why David preferred older kids. Ones he could talk to. Ones that could joke around and question the process. Still, working with kids wasn’t his number one choice in general.  
He daydreams about what his future could’ve been. Guiding people through the mysterious outdoors, telling them everything there is to know, and teaching the skills to survive in said wilderness. Going on two week long trips in the back country, laughing and smiling with the strangers that choose to trust him with their life.  
The daydreams are what get him through everyday. Maybe one time, he would have time to return to school and make his dreams reality. But for now, he was stuck in his hometown, working meaningless jobs.  
The day went by as usual, he helped the preschool teacher with his usual duties, and made sure every kid got to the right parents. Not like that was hard as the town was small and everyone knew everyone, still, protocols were protocols for a reason.  
At 3:30, it was finally time for him to go back to his empty house. The same one he had grown up in. The same one he had lived in for his whole life. 22 years spent in the same small house, but it didn’t feel like a home anymore.  
He wished he could go back to childhood and start over. He wished he could tell himself how rough life was going to get for him. How his future plans were futile. Or he would tell himself to run. Run far away from home, and try to start new before everything went to shit. Warn himself of the lonely days at school, and even lonelier nights at home.  
Still, he missed his childhood. He missed when he was young and naive. He missed when the most he worried about was what to wear to school the next day. When the biggest event in his life was the last day of school. The days of catching fireflies and falling snow. When night would fall and there was a bedtime story to lull him to sleep. Back before his dad left. Back before it felt like the world was against him.  
Before he knew it, he was looking through his mom’s old photo albums. Looking back on the brighter days. All the photos of him and his mom smiling at the camera, on the sunny days, the snowy days, and even during the rain. Every chance they got, they took pictures. He smiled back at his mom in the photo, his finger tracing her face. He missed hearing her laugh, watching her try to stay serious before busting out into a wide grin. A tear suddenly dropped onto the photo and he realized he was crying. He let himself cry as he sorted through more of the photos. He missed how things used to be so much. It was an overwhelming feeling. His chest was tight and painful. He had been keeping so much bottled up about work and the what ifs of his life recently, and it all came crashing down in that moment. He let himself sob, as he dropped to the floor on his knees. He let all his feelings out through his tears until the pain in his chest loosened and he could breathe normally again.  
His vision was still blurred by his tears when he noticed a particular photo, that he had accidentally dropped on the ground earlier. He quickly wiped away the remaining tears and picked up the photo, littered with dust and creased from where it must’ve been folded many years ago. He gasped as soon as he got a clear look at the photo. It was him, smiling as wide as possible, standing next to a blond kid his age, with a less genuine smile. They had their arms wrapped around each other, and the background was the beautiful green forest he used to wander. He could recall the exact day it was taken. He smiled as the memories came back to his mind. All those summers spent at what became his favorite place in the world as a kid,  
“Camp Campbell,” David said breathlessly.


	2. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David thinks of his last memory with Jasper at camp, and finally decides to apply to the camp for the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, so i wasn't going to post this chapter until tomorrow but i got excited! this chapter is significantly longer than the last, and i hope you enjoy!  
> this chapter starts with a flashback to little davey and jasper btw

_“Come on, Davey,” The young blond haired boy called behind him as he ran towards the circle of worn down tents, his hair bouncing with every step. It was a beautiful, perfect day. The sun was almost too bright, and the smell of pine filled the air, the trees slightly swaying with each breeze that passed through. Every step taken by the two young boys pulled up small clouds of dirt, and the humming of mosquitoes stayed persistent in their ears. Lake Lilac had a distinct smell, the whole place smelled of dusty and musty water, but it was practically unnoticeable by the end of summer._

_David laughed as he tried to catch up with him, “You had a head start, it’s no fair, Jasper!” He yelled, running as fast as his little legs would allow.  
When he finally caught up with Jasper, he tackled him to the ground with a hug, dirt covering both their clothes._

_Jasper yelled in protest, trying to shove the red haired boy off of him, “Get off me you spaz! You’re gonna mess my clothes up for good, dude.”_

_David laughed as Jasper planted a hand to his face with a loud smack, “Stop your griping! We’re at camp, your clothes are supposed to get dirty.”_

_They continued their playful fighting, until Jasper freed himself from his grasp, and hops back up to his feet and dusts off all the dirt he can from his yellow shirt.  
“I can’t believe this is our last day of camp,” David says from the dirt ground, frowning at his own words._

_“I’m glad it’s finally over, this camp sucks. Like a lot.” Jasper replies, a darker look crossing over his face from the memories of the summer. He had almost died twice, and it was the fault of none other than the owner of the camp, Cameron Campbell. That man was more concerned with his own well being than the campers. If David hadn’t been forced to go with Campbell and Jasper, he wouldn’t have made it out alive. The second time Jasper had made it out from pure luck, he could have died a horrible painful death. Jasper shuddered at the thought of dying all alone in the forest. He couldn’t wait to finally be out of this dang place._

_“But I won’t see you for another year!” David replied, offended by his lack of concern, finally getting off the ground, “A whole dang year Jasper!”_

_“Chill your grill, home-skillet, and besides,” Jasper sighed, his frown even bigger than before, “I’m not coming back next year.”_

_“What?! That’s a load of hooey!”_

_“Sorry, dude, but my parents don’t want me coming back. I did almost die. Twice,” He said, rubbing his arm in discomfort, looking away from his teary green eyed friend._

_“We’ll never see each other, Jasper!” David cried out in response, this was supposed to be a good day. A great day even. But stupid Jasper had to go and mess it up. It was supposed to be a fun day where David could pretend everything was okay until he had to go home. Jasper didn’t have to go and ruin it right then. The tears building up in his eyes threatened to fall down his face, and he quickly tried to wipe them away, looking away from Jasper and to the cloud scattered blue sky.  
“Come on, dude,” Jasper said as he tried to put a hand on David’s shoulder to comfort him, only to be shoved off._

_David continued to look at the sky, trying to keep the tears at bay. He didn’t want to be the last interaction he had with Jasper, but he was still upset with him for abandoning him. He looked forward to seeing him at camp every year since he started coming. He didn’t even like the actual camp until this past year, and it was thanks to Jasper himself. Jasper couldn’t just leave him like this._

_“Listen, Davey-” Jasper started._

_“I don’t want to hear it.”_

_“Just hear me out, home-slice,” Jasper begged._

_David sighed, tears still brimming the corner of his eyes, and turned to Jasper, “Fine.”_

_“Thank you,” Jasper took a breath and continued, “What if, hypothetically, we both came back one day?”_

_“What do you mean one day? You could just come back next year,” David growled._

_“You’re not listening, Davey. I mean, what if we came back as counselors? Yeah, this place really sucks, but maybe we could make it better, as counselors.”_

_David’s eyes went wide as Jasper talked, “You really mean it?”_

_“Yeah, dude, we could make this place better,” Jasper said smiling at David, “I mean if-”_

_He was cut off by David crushing him in a hug, and laughing right in his ear. This day didn’t have to be all that bad. They could see each other again. This didn’t have to be the end. He could have something to look forward to. David squeezed him one last time and then let him go._

_“Promise?” David said hopefully._

_“Promise.” Jasper said with such strong conviction it kept the smile on David's face. They stayed standing and smiling at each other for a long moment. Everything was going to be okay. And this moment proved it._

_Then the nice moment was cut off, “None of that will matter when the next world war starts,” Quartermaster said plainly, causing Jasper to jump away from David as he screamed, unaware of the man’s presence until that moment._

_“Jeez, Q.M. you always find a way to make things weird don’t you?” Jasper said with a confused glare._

_“Pretty much,” He mumbled, continuing his path to the Mess Hall._

_“Wait wait wait,” David called to the groundskeeper, “Can you take a picture of us?”_

_Quartermaster grumbled something insulting and how it wasn’t a part of his job as he walked back over to the pair._

_“I don’t want to forget this promise,” David said, putting his arm around his blond haired friend. He smiled and faced Quartermaster with the camera. He was going to stay this happy for a long time, he just knew it._

_The camera flashed and a few moments later came out the photo. Before David could put it in his pocket, Jasper snatched it from his grasp.  
“Hey!”_

_“Just hold on, dude,” Jasper said, hitting his hand away, and taking a pen out. He wrote something on the back, and then handed it back._

_“I promise,” David read out-loud and smiled._

_“That way we never forget,” Jasper said._

David smiled as the memory played in his head. He remembered staying in contact with Jasper for a few more years, even the few years David went to camp without him, before time and distance had managed to separate the pair. He had never meant to stop talking to him, but there was nothing to keep them together after Jasper stopped attending camp.

He smiled as he turned the photo around from the last time he physically saw his childhood friend, and he reread the now faded note. He traced the letters with his fingers, and sighed.

“I promise,” He said reading the note out loud again. He wondered if Jasper remembered the promise from so many years ago. He felt bad for not remembering everything with Jasper until now, but he doubted that the other remembered as well. After all, they had only been 10. 10 year olds made empty promises all the time. Even still, there was so much conviction in his friend’s eyes that day, there was no way it was just words. 

He frowned wishing he still had his old friend’s number. He wanted to talk to him. Ask him if the promise had never been broken. Ask him if they could finally make Camp Campbell how they always dreamed of. 

David paced his kitchen wondering what his next move should be. Should he follow the dream of a 10 year old and leave behind his disappointing life? Or should he forget all about his childhood once and for all, and let time take the promise of his? Sure, he was unhappy with his mediocre job and his boring life, but wasn’t leaving it all a little extreme? Sure, camp is only a summer job, but most places wouldn’t want to hire him full time when he got back because they would be aware of his absence in the summer. He would be almost four hours away, in Great Falls, Montana for camp. He wasn’t sure he would be able to handle the distance. There wasn’t really anything left for him at home, but he still felt bad leaving his house, his mother’s house, for almost three whole months.

Not to mention he would have to deal with Campbell himself the whole summer. That man was so selfish it made his blood boil, he almost got his childhood best friend killed twice because of his greed. That wasn’t something easy to forgive. But if David did work at camp, maybe he could get Campbell kicked out. Maybe he could take over the camp himself. Maybe he could- no. What was he thinking? That’s too unrealistic. Campbell always managed to wiggle himself out of tough spots when he was a child, so there was no doubt about his abilities now.

Still, the thought of returning to the place that gave him a safe haven over the summer brought a smile to his lips. That place, despite being run by a crook, had always given him something to look forward to. He didn’t always like the place itself, but he always did secretly enjoy those quiet nights by the fire, watching the stars in a light-pollution free zone. The nights where his only concern was if he was going to burn his marshmallow. The nights where every camper’s face was glowing orange from the crackling fire that looked like it was dancing to their quiet songs. 

And he couldn’t get his last memory with Jasper off his mind. He felt like he was letting his past self down. He imagined looking at himself as a 10 year old right in his eyes, and telling him the promise was empty. Telling him that there was nothing to look forward to in the future. And he imagined the fury and hurt that he would be met with. He couldn’t do that to himself. He had to try. For 10 year old David.

He quickly ran up the stairs, grabbing his beaten down laptop that had seen better days, then rushed back down to his wooden kitchen table. He flipped open the laptop as fast as he could, and started typing.

‘Camp Campbell job application,’ he typed into google, hoping it would provide him with the results he wanted. 

He felt like a whole minute had passed before the results finally popped up on his screen, and he sighed in relief. There it was. His old camp. Quickly, he clicked on the link, and scanned the very poorly designed website.

There in the ugliest yellow letters David had ever seen was a name and number, along with a note in a white font that read: “Call here to receive an application!” and below that note in a tiny print that strained David’s eyes to read was an asterix and a disclaimer: “If Cameron Campbell owes you money, stop calling this number.”  
David rolled his eyes, and got out his old phone that desperately needed replacing, and typed out none other than Cameron Campbell’s work phone on the keypad as slow as humanly possible. Like if he typed it too fast it would trigger some kind of explosion.

He anxiously stared at his phone, wondering if he should call yet. He didn’t even know what to say. He just knew he had to call. And soon. It was April after all, the opportunity to follow through was a narrow window. Still, he stared at his phone, with just the number of Cameron Campbell on it, and almost hoped his phone would die on him right then and there. He waited a few more moments until the silence of his house gnawed at him and he caved in, and pressed the “call” dial.

His kitchen filled with the sound of empty ringing for what felt like hours. Every ring brought more fear and uncertainty into David’s mind, and he was sure he was going to go to voicemail until the ringing stopped and a voice spoke through the receiver.

“I already told you, the money is coming through this week. Stop calling,” Cameron Campbell said in a harsh tone.

“Wait, Mr.Campbell!” David yelled trying to prevent the older man from hanging up on him.

He heard a pause and muffled speaking from the other side of the receiver. Clearly Campbell was still very much a crook, and still in a lot of debt to a bunch of random people across the globe. He knew calling him wasn’t a great idea, but he wasn’t really expecting this despite the website's disclaimer.

“What do you want?” Campbell said, after a few more seconds of silence.

“My name is David. David Wootton, and I would like to apply to be a counselor for Camp Campbell, sir,” David replied, trying to be as polite as possible.

Suddenly, the tone of Campbell’s voice changed to relieved and upbeat, “You mean you actually want to work for this god-forsaken place?”

David blinked a few times in confusion, “I- What do you mean?”

Campbell gave out a light laugh, “I’ve only been able to find one other counselor for this summer. It would cost less money, but apparently only having one counselor for 20 plus kids is unsafe and illegal.” 

David heard him mumble something about how it wouldn’t be the only illegal thing going on in the camp, but he elected to ignore it. After all, his goal as a kid was to make Camp Campbell better, he would just have more work cut out for him than planned. 

“What’d you say your name was again?”

“David Wootton, sir.”

“Wootton… Hm. I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”

“I used to attend Camp Campbell,” David said, hoping that would bring back something from the past 10 years to his mind.

“You have?” David felt his heart drop, but Campbell kept talking, “David Wootton… Wootton. David… Davey. Davey Wootton!”  
David internally cheered as the older man recalled the camper from long ago. At least he remembered him. It wasn’t much going for him, but it was enough.

“So the application, sir?” David said.

“Yes. Right,” There were a few clicking noises, which he could only assume belonged to a computer, before Campbell spoke again, “Wow. I can’t believe it. Little Davey wants to come back to camp.”

“I just want to give the camp back all that it has given me,” David said, biting his lip, knowing his choice of words was unwise around a man like Campbell.

“Really now?” Campbell said, contemplating some kind of plan, “Well just tell me your email and I can send over the application, Davey.”

David obliged, and he was about to say thank you and that he hoped he would see him come May, but Campbell continued talking.

“So, how’ve you been, Davey?”

“Things could be better, but I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Well, I hope to see you this May, Davey. Don’t disappoint,” He said before he ended the call. 

David placed his phone on his wood table with blank expression, and began to break out into a smile. Maybe things were finally going to go his way.  
Quickly, he checked his email and found the Camp Campbell camp counselor application. It was poorly made, like everything Campbell did but it didn’t take longer than 20 minutes, so David was thankful. He wanted to return the application as soon as possible, but he didn’t want to seem overly eager for a job that barely paid over minimum wage.

Then he remembered one of his friends from college, who he stayed in contact with even after he had to drop out. He didn’t think he could get rid of them, even if he wanted to. They were there for him through everything, and he wanted to return a favor to them. He thought of offering them some help for a job this summer since they had talked recently about needing to find a summer job after graduation because they hadn’t found anywhere to work permanently yet. This job wasn’t 100% in his friend’s major, but a camp like Campbell could use their skills.

So David picked up his phone from the table, and scrolled through his contact and clicked on their name,  
“Hey Gwen, still looking for a summer job?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told you david might talk to campbell and an old friend ;)  
> hope you enjoyed that chapter! please leave kudos if you did!  
> from now on, i should be updating every monday or tuesday, so keep a look out for that!

**Author's Note:**

> excited for the next chapter now? you might get to see the man himself, cameron campbell, or even an old friend.  
> let me know if you like this so far! leave a kudos if you did :)!


End file.
